


Prêt, Allez

by meredyd



Series: Nova Hyperion [1]
Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: F/F, Nova Hyperion - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-01
Updated: 2013-09-01
Packaged: 2017-12-25 08:34:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/950986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meredyd/pseuds/meredyd
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Sometimes the best part of you just kinda wakes up like that." Seven hours in the making of Nova Hyperion.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Prêt, Allez

1.  
So-Yi is breathing heavily against Yuna’s neck in deep little pants, and my god it’s annoying, she thinks. She’s not a good enough person to neglect to see their situation for what it is. At least they’ve escaped being crammed in a municipal shelter shoulder to shoulder with half of the city. Even so, this is the human equivalent of fingernails on a chalkboard.

They’ve managed to make it down to the equipment storage basement of the arena. It took some time to get the door open, and even more time to run carrying another person, but the water is rising all around them and it is a better option than moving backwards towards officially sanctioned safety. One or both of them will be dead if she tries that.

And, who is Yuna really kidding, both of them will be dead soon enough anyway.

She sighs deeply, and adjusts her position so So-Yi can sit more comfortably. Yuna has managed to get her out of the top of her uniform. Underneath she is wearing a sports bra which Yuna can see clearly under her white tank top. There’s a deep gash across her wide forehead partially hidden by her bangs. Yuna sweeps them to the side, gently, as gently as she can so as not to aggravate the injury, it is the first time she has ever touched So-Yi’s skin. Before there were always gloves and masks and metal between them.

2.  
“I’d be going to Rio de Janeiro, you know, not you,” Yuna says. “You were ahead but your technique was sloppy. Do the big crowds make you nervous? You’ll have to get past that if you really want to succeed.”

By now the match would be over and the decision would be made. By now her many years of work would be worth something tangible.

In her mind So-Yi is doing that little high-pitched giggle that she does for reporters and saying, “Take your own advice. You talk like you know everything to make yourself look big.”

There is nothing Yuna can really say to that.

3.  
It feels like hours of stillness have passed when finally So-Yi groans. When she speaks her voice breaks. “What happened?” She jerks upright and immediately Yuna sees her wince.

“A kaiju,” says Yuna. Is So-Yi going to start crying? She looks like she is going to start crying. It’s one thing to take care of someone who is practically unconscious. To take care of someone who is awake and needs you is not within Yuna’s reach or desire.

“The arena evacuated. We’re not in the shelter, but we’re safe. Try to rest.”

No, she’s not crying. Her round cheeks turn pink and then red. Something flashes in her eyes that isn’t pain.

“All we can do is wait,” Yuna says.

“That’s fine. I’m not dying until I’ve beaten you so there isn’t much to worry about.”

“I saved your life and that’s your response!” says Yuna.

But So-Yi has already drifted off again.

4.  
Yuna replays her worst bouts in her head. Point-for-point and moment-by-moment with all the detail her exhausted mind can muster. The Yuna here, in the basement, adjusts the mistakes of the Yuna in the past until she has beaten each opponent who has beaten her.

5.  
The concrete floor isn’t an option and if she moves too much So-Yi starts bleeding again, so Yuna shifts her from her shoulder to her lap. She folds up both of their uniform tops into a pillow and slides it underneath So-Yi’s head.

“Hey,” So-Yi says, so quietly Yuna nearly misses it.

“What is it?”

“What did the kaiju look like?”

“Like a big monster with blue blood.” Yuna breathes in, breathes out deeply. The dark has somehow gotten darker over the past few hours. “Like an alligator and a bird and a snake all at once. Really dark purple, almost black. It looked like it was slicing through the sea.”

“Thank you.”

6.  
They’re supposed to do a headcount in the shelters, especially when there’s a chance they know exactly how many people have been in any given area. Yuna assumes the arena was one of those situations, or the fact that she and So-Yi were important enough competitors for their absence to be noted immediately. Their friends and family may have told before they were pushed underground with the others. It was only a Category Three. There were any number of perfectly viable reasons why they lived and why they were found.

Yuna knows what So-Yi would insist. That fate had some kind of a plan. They had survived for a reason. She probably believed her determination made the earth spin.

She knew better. They were extraordinarily lucky and the jaegers were equally so. And yet. As Tacit Ronin’s sleek white lines crumble the concrete boxing them in and Kaori and Duc Jessop climb out of the cockpit Yuna is inclined to believe just about the densest nonsense about destiny that So-Yi could throw at her.

7.  
“You can let go of her now,” says Kaori, kindly. “A plane will take you back to the Tokyo Shatterdome, but it looks like we need to get Ms. Pang medical attention right away.”

The sun is barely coming up. Hours must have passed below ground, a whole night gone without her even noticing.

“If you want to stay with your friend, you can.”

Later the stories will all be about how she didn’t let go of So-Yi even for a second. The triumphant beginnings of Nova Hyperion’s unstoppable team.

Right now, Duc and Kaori exchange a look that she cannot even try to parse.

“She’s not my friend,” Yuna says.


End file.
